What’s Gonna Work? Teamwork!

If you get the title of today’s post you probably either have small children or spend a lot of time with them. I have no idea what my excuse is.

Anyway, this is it folks – this was the last week that the long run was a distance I’ve gone before. After this it’s all officially the farthest I have ever run. I’m a little nervous, but the way our training is set up it’s not so bad – every week is just one more mile. I can always just run one more mile, right?

Also helping to make it all possible are my incredible teammates. I know I’ve given them some props before, but I’m dedicating this entire post to all of them, because they really make the running much more fun! Yesterday I did the long run of 13 miles with two of the other folks from the office who are running, Todd and Jess. We were running from Comm Ave to part of Heartbreak Hill and back, and at one point along the way, I looked at my watch and realized we’d already been running for an hour – but it felt like no time at all had passed. When you’re running by yourself (as I think I might have to next week – the FARTHEST I’VE EVER RUN, GUYS) you really notice every mile. You’re acutely aware of how long it’s taking you to accomplish this task. Running with the team, while I try to stay focused on my form and breathing, I’m also happily distracted by talking to these folks who know exactly how I feel about this one facet of our lives. It’s pretty great.

I know that most of them feel the same way. At least two people have mentioned to me how much they enjoy the larger coalition runs, and Kelly wrote a great blog post about how, in addition to providing happy distraction, running with others offers a little bit of healthy competition – which is sometimes needed to spur us on the difficult task we’ve set for ourselves. While I’m not very competitive in the running arena (there are a few people I’d like to beat, but I’m rarely willing to kill myself to do it), I do find myself getting worked up about our fundraising! I was holding the number two spot on the team for a long time (beaten only by my oldest and dearest running buddy, Nandi, so that was ok) but recently I’ve fallen to number four and I’ll admit that it’s providing some impetus to really kick it up a notch as we move into February!

I’ll take that as an excuse to remind you all of a few donation opportunities, as well as to announce a new one!
1. You can always donate to my Firstgiving page! It’s easy, you get your tax-deductible letter almost immediately, and you can use a credit card.
2. Buy raffle tickets! This month’s raffle is for any baked good you like! Popular choices are chocolate peanut butter cupcakes, banana bread, and my chocolate chip cookies, but really, whatever you want! Tickets are $1 each, $5 for six, and you can buy them from the Firstgiving page or me directly. January’s raffle is over on the 31st, so get on it while you can!
3. Speaking of the 31st, I’m having an awesome event. Email me for the details!

Finally, the office team is planning a trivia night that’s going to rock your socks off, so stay tuned for details on that!

Thank you to Kelly, Jess, Todd, Nandi, and all of the rest of my teammates for joining me on this crazy adventure. I can’t wait to cross the finish line with you in April!